The restricted space between the femur and tibia in the knee joint limits the accessibility of arthroscopic instruments during knee arthroscopy. The surgeon has to place the patient's knee in specific positions to increase accessibility for surgical procedures. In some cases, the surgeon has to physically hold the knee in positions requiring a significant amount of physical exertion resulting in potential damage to the opposing compartment of the patient's knee joint and potential injury to the surgeon. Damage to the knee joint can occur because the knee compartment opposing the exposed compartment may act as a fulcrum during bending.
Currently, there are leg positioner solutions to take the strain off the surgeons. However, the existing solutions do not address the issue of damaging the opposing compartment of the patient's knee joint. For example, current devices allow bending the knee in varus or valgus to expose the space between the femur and tibia by bracing the opposing compartment of the knee against a barricade and then applying a lateral force. This technique, however, risks damaging the opposing compartment of the knee that acts as the fulcrum/point of leverage. In other devices, the femur and the tibia are linearly distracted. This, however, does not allow the surgeon to be in an optimal position for the surgery. Surgeons prefer having the leg relatively straight and to the side of their body.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a surgical knee positioner that does not increase the susceptibility to damage on the opposite compartment of the knee, and yet still allows the leg to be in an optimal position for surgery.